Working time regulation in France from 1996 to 2012

Article dans une revue: France, which is often seen as an unusual country with a rigid 35-hour working week, has experienced massive changes in its regulation of working time in recent decades, including a progressive removal of 35-hour working week laws. These changes have affected and continue to affect workplace organisation, working conditions, job creation, productivity and wages. The 35-hour working week policy represents a reduction in working time as well as a complex package that restructured French labour law and that opened up a great deal of space for social bargaining. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of working time regulation and its political roots. It discusses the studies evaluating the 35-hour working week and examines some of the basic consequences of reversing this policy since 2002. It also highlights unexplored lines of research on this topic.

Auteur(s)

Philippe Askenazy

Revue
  • Cambridge Journal of Economics
Date de publication
  • 2013
Mots-clés JEL
J20 J30 J51 L23
Mots-clés
  • France
  • 35-hour week
  • Working time
  • Bargaining
Pages
  • 323-347
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 37